the house was haunted. [2/2]

[ june 5th ]

They were playing hide-and-seek again. Abby had looked everywhere for Joshua, but he was nowhere to be found. He hadn’t ever said they were officially playing the game. He never really did. Still, Abby knew he had to be hiding somewhere within the confines of the house. She moved from room to room, dragging Teddy along with her as she peeked her head around all the possible hiding spots. There was behind the couch. Under the stairs. In the backyard. Inside her pile of toys. Those were all the spots she had hid before, but Joshua wasn’t in any of them.

She stood at the foot of the stairs.She would have just played with her toys, but Joshua had been hiding for ages now. She didn’t want him to think he had been forgotten. Biting her lip and rocking on the tips of her feet, Abby thought for a moment. Mommy and Daddy said to never go into the attic. Joshua had said it, too. But if he was nowhere else in the house, then he had to be in the attic.

Abby frowned.

It wasn’t fair! He said that she couldn’t go there, but he could go there all the time. She bet he went there ever single time that they played hide-and-seek. Taking a big, deep gulp of air, she decided to brave the unknown. She marched up the steps with Teddy and Joshua’s big flashlight. It was hard carrying both of them, but the attic was dark and scary. She needed the comfort and light.

She flicked on the flashlight.

And then she slowly pushed open the attic door.There was a soft creak as it swung open into the room. Abby scanned the room with her light. Everything looked funny. It was covered in a thick layer of dust. When she lifted her bare foot up off of the ground, she could see a tiny little footprint in its place. She shined the light down. There were bigger footprints near hers. They were all Joshua-sized footprints. Some of them had a little more dust than others, but it didn’t matter. Abby still could make out just what direction to go.

Struggling to hold her teddy bear, she set off towards the darkest corner of the room.

“You can’t keep doing this, Joshua,” an unfamiliar voice said. Abby’s grip on the flashlight tightened. She didn’t like the sound of the voice. Its owner sounded cold and distant. It was scary. Even worse, it was being mean to Joshua! No one was supposed to treat him like that. Joshua was her best friend in the entire world - even more than Teddy was. “I know you feel sorry for her, but you’re going to get hurt if you keep this up.”

“Abby needs me,” Joshua said.

The flashlight’s beam flickered as Abby’s heart soared. She didn’t know what they were talking about, but knowing that Joshua cared about her made her feel all warm and fuzzy. He wasn’t going to leave her like everyone else did. He wasn’t ever going to leave her in the darkness. The light went out. The room was dark, but Abby could still see. Joshua had some kind of light in the corner. He was looking at a tiny little rectangle. If Abby squinted, she could see someone on the other side of it. “It’s not like I can go anywhere with the quarantine.”

The rectangle person sighed. “Are you planning on staying there for the entire pandemic, then?”

“We’re not doing house calls right now,” Joshua pointed out. He had his back turned to Abby. He hadn’t noticed her yet. And even though Abby would have normally gone running over to her, something made her pause. There was something about that corner. It was a bad corner. She was supposed to stay away from it. Mommy and Daddy had never said to. Joshua had never said to. But it was so dark and cold and lonely and-

“What are you going to do when she finds out?” the rectangle person asked. “How are you going to break it to her? You know she wouldn’t understand.”

“I won’t have to tell her,” Joshua said. Abby’s blood ran cold. The flashlight started flickering again, even though she hadn’t tried moving its switch from off to on. “She doesn’t come up into the attic. She likes to avoid the place where-”

Joshua went still.

“Joshua?” the rectangle person said. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost-”

Joshua turned. 

When Abby looked up at his face, she saw it was paler than usual. The flashlight, still going off and then on and then off again, fell out of her shaking hand and went rolling across the floor. She hugged Teddy close to her chest, but she was having trouble keeping a grip on her favorite toy. The room shifted. She was in the corner again. Joshua was nowhere to be found. The rectangle person was gone, too, but Abby barely noticed. There were noises coming from downstairs. Mommy had said to hide.

“Don’t come out until we say to, okay?” Mommy had asked. She had looked so scared and sad. Abby had tried to give her Teddy, but Mommy refused to take the stuffed animal. Daddy was out by the front door. The mean men that Daddy had dinner with sometimes were out on the front step. They were raising their voices downstairs now. She covered her ears with her hands. She pulled her legs close to her, pinning Teddy between her chest and her knees.

Someone let off a firework.

Mommy screamed.

There was another firework.

And then there was silence.Even when she heard the front door open again later, Abby didn’t move. She didn’t get up when strangers called her name. She felt so hungry and tired and cold, but she had to follow exactly what Mommy said-

“Abby,” a voice said, cutting through the dark. The room spun again. She wasn’t in the corner anymore. She was standing a few feet away from it. Teddy had joined the flashlight on the ground at her feet. Joshua was closer now, too. It was his voice that she had heard. He was crouching down in front of her and giving her a hug, but his arms kept going through her when he shifted. “It’s alright. You’re okay.”

When Abby looked over his shoulder, she saw a tiny skeleton - Daddy must have put it there after Halloween - illuminated by the light of the rectangle in the very corner of the room.

The rectangle person didn’t say anything else.

Abby didn’t say anything else that day, either.

[ june 6th ]

“Joshua?” Abby finally asked. Her voice was hoarse and quiet after an afternoon and night of not using it. They were sitting in the living room again. Joshua was eating a piece of toast. Abby knew she should have been having breakfast, too, but she didn’t feel hungry.

She never did.

“Yes?” Joshua asked. He had a soft, warm look in his dark eyes. She wanted to hug him again, but she knew she would be sad when she couldn’t touch him.

“Are...Are you going to leave me, too?” she softly said. “Just like Mommy and Daddy?”

Joshua frowned.

A pit formed in her stomach. She held Teddy close to her. She knew it was too good to last. The rectangle person was saying he couldn’t stay there forever. She frowned, too. Her eyes started to tear up. When she pulled her legs close to her chest, she already knew what the answer was going to be.

“I’ll be with you as long as you want me to be with you,” Joshua answered.

She raised her head. “But the rectangle person said you had to go!”

“We still have time,” Joshua said. “I promise. When the lockdown is finally over and I do have to leave, we’ll figure something out. We just have to take things one day at a time like we always do.”

He reached out a hand to give her a little pat on the head. His fingers kept going through her hair, but she didn’t mind. It reminded her of when Daddy used to comfort her.

“Now,” Joshua said, getting to his feet and brushing off the dust from his suit, “I think we’re overdue for our morning tea party.” When Joshua moved towards the little table on the other side of the room, Abby wasted no time in rushing after him.